Supporting post



Dec. 5, 1961 S. R.'GALLOWAY ETAL SUPPORTING POST Filed April 2l, 1958 United States Patent Olice 3,011,598 Patented Dec. 5, 1961 3,011,598 SUPPORTING POST Samuel R. Galloway, Lima, Ohio, and William H. Galloway, 326 Arcadia Court, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignors,

by direct and mesne assignments, to said William H.

Galloway Filed Apr. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 729,767 3 Claims. (Cl. 189-30) The present invention relates to a supporting post, and more particularly to a supporting post assembly which may be quickly installed in the ground without the necessity of first digging a hole or secondly driving the post with a sledge hammer or the like.

In installing posts for the purpose of supporting superstructures or objects such as mail boxes and the like, it is customary to rst bore or dig a hole in the ground to a suitable depth, this hole being made slightly larger than the post to be inserted therein, insert the post in the hole in a truly upright position, and lastly, while supporting the post in such position, pouring concrete around the post to set it firmly in position. As is obvious, this installation requires digging equipment of some kind, as well as time and effort, considerable man power and equipment being required if it is desired to achieve any semblance of speed in installing a large number of posts.

It is an object of this invention to provide va supporting post structure which requires no concrete reinforcement or any special equipment for installation.

It is another object of this invention to provide a supporting post structure which may be quickly installed with a minimum of eifort and which, after installed, is completely -stablized against lateral and rotational displacement.

lt is still another object of this invention to provide a supporting post structure which may be quickly erected Without rst digging or boring any holes in the ground, and secondly without requiring any extra equipment for holding the post in vertical alignment during installation.

Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, our invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that specific change may be made in the specic constructions illustrated and described so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a vertical elevation of an embodiment of this invention shown partially installed in the ground;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary illustration of the lower end of the anchor post;

FIG. 3 is an end View of the anchor post;

FIG. 4 is a sectional illustration taken substantially along section line 4 4 of FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary illustration of the post structure nally installed in the ground; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but (90) degrees.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. l, the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a tubular anchor post 10 fabricated of steel tubing or the like, which carries an auger 12 on its lower end. This auger 12 preferably is fabricated of steeel which is welded at its inner perimeter to the outer surface of the-post 1t) and is formed with a screw pitch which will force the post 10 downwardly into the ground when turned in a clockwise direction.

The lower extremity of the post 10 is angled at 14 (see FIG. 2) such as to' define a plane which intersects the post axis at an acute angle. This provides upper and rotated ninety lower end portions 16 and 13, respectively (FIG. 6) which serves the general purpose of providing a point on the post 10. The lower end portion 18 is axially undercut at 20 to provide a downwardly projecting deliector or tooth 22. This tooth 22 is bent radially inwardly to a point which positions the outer surface of the tooth 22 either in line with or slightly inwardly from the inner wall 24 of the post. fhile this particular position of the tooth 22 is preferred, it has been found through experiments that the tooth need not be positioned as far inwardly as just explained, but only sutliciently far to facilitate turning the post 10 in the soil as will be explained more fully in the following. The outer surface of the tooth 22 merges with the outer periphery 26 of the post along a spiral path, the importance of this feature being apparent from the following description.

Loosely telescopically received over the anchor post 10 is a vane structure generally indicated by the numeral 28. This structure comprises an elongated steel sleeve 30 to which are welded triangular-ly shaped vanes 32, 34 and 36, respectively. Each vane preferably extends from the upper edge 38 of the sleeve 30 to the lower edge 4t) -With the shape thereof being that of a right triangle. The edge of each vane which corresponds to the altitude of the triangle is welded to the periphery of the sleeve along the respective axially extending line 42 thereby securing the vane and the sleeve 36 rigidly together.

The vane 36 differs slightly from the other two vanes 32 and 34 in the respect that it is longer and extends outwardly beyond the upper edge 38 of the sleeve 39. This vane extension is indicated by the reference numeral 44 and serves as a locking projection which will be explained more fully in the following.

On the upper end of the anchor post 10 is secured a tubular mounting sleeve 46 having a transverse bolt opening 48. This sleeve 46 is approximately the same size as the bearing sleeve 3i? `and is secured to the upper end of the post 10 by some suitable means such as welding.

The structure thus far described, when installed, is positioned beneath the surface of the ground with the exception of the mounting sleeve 46 as shown more clearly in FIG. 5. With the sleeve 46 so projecting above the surface of the ground, an upper tubular post 50 is telescoped thereover. This post is provided at its lower end with a bolt opening 52 positioned to register with the bolt opening 4S in the mounting sleeve when the lower end of the post Si) coincides with the lower end of the sleeve 46. Thus aligned, the holes 4S and 52 receive a bolt 54 for securing the two posts 10 and 59 together.

An axially extending notch S6 is cut` back from the lower end of the post 50 in registry with the locking projection 44 of the vane 36. With the locking projection 44 thus entering this notch 56, relative rotation between the upper post 56 and the vane structure 28 is prevented.

The structure thus far described is installed as follows. The anchor post 10 without the upper post 50 secured thereto is first set upright with the tooth 22 resting on the surface of the ground. A suitable bar is inserted through the bolt opening 48 and is used as a handle for turning the post 10 clockwise with a sufiicient downward force to cause the auger 12 to bite into the soil. During this rotation, the tooth 22 cuts an annular opening in the soil ahead of the entry thereinto of the remaining wall portions of the post 10, this tooth 22 by reason of its being bent inwardly providing a deflecting surface on its outer periphery for defiecting some of the soil disposed within the interior boundaries of the post 10 toward the outside. A clearance between the inner post surface 24 and the soil is thereby provided as the post 10 is turned downwardly. This clearance is eX- o sa trernely important, because it substantially eliminates any frictional contact between the inner post surface 24 and the soil, which lrictional `contact can be so forceful as to prevent the post l@ lfrom being turned downwardly. As a matter of fact, without the tooth 22 and its deilecting surface, Vit is almost impossible to cause the post itl to auger downwardly into the ground without breaking some part thereof.

When the post l@ is turned downwardly a short disi tance, the vane structure 28 is tapped with a hammer or the like along its upper edges to drive it into the ground first to the position of FIG. f1 and finally to the position of FlG. 5. While the vane structure 28 is in the position of FIG. l, it serves Vas a iiXed bearing within which the post lil is turned. The upper end of the post 10 is held against lateral displacement by reason of the vanes 32, 34, 36 during the installation.

When the lower end of the mounting collar 46 abuts the upper edge 38 of the vane-supporting sleeve 3G, further rotation of the post it) drives the vane Ystructure 28 to the position illustrated in FTG. 5.

The anchor post 19 thus mounted, the only remaining step in assembling the structure is to telescope the upper post 55 over the mounting Icollar 46, the notch S being passed over the locking projection 44 and the holes and 52 being aligned to receive the locking bolt 54..

With the structure so installed and assembled, the post cannot be rotated, because the upper post Sti is locked to the vane 36 which cannot be rotated in the soil. Still further, the supporting post cannot be laterally displaced, because the vanes 32, 34, 36 present surfaces which resist such displacement. As seen in FlG. 4, these vanes are angularly spaced around the supporting sleeve 39 by approximately one hundred twenty (120) degrees.

While the vane structure 28 serves the purpose of preventing rotational and lateral displacement of the post as installed, it also serves the' purpose of providing an upper bearing -for the post lll during installation. rIhis is extremely important, because it assures that the prost 1t! is being held in erect position during the entire period of installation. Y

What is claimed is:

1. A supporting post comprising a tubular anchor post having upper and lower ends, the lower end being terminated substantially -in a .plane which intersects the anchor postraxis at an acute angle thereby providing upper and lower end portions, the lower end portion having an axially extending tooth, said tooth having a generally axially extending edge and an axially extending outer surface, saidltooth being bent radially inwardly from the periphery of said anchor post a distance suicient to displace soil radially outwardly when said post is rotated in a lgiven direction, an auger on the lower end ofV said anchor post, a stabilizing vane structure telescoped over said anchor post, said vane structure comprising a sleeve having three axially extending angularly spaced vanes secured thereto, at least one of said vanes having an upwardly extending locking projection, the upper end oi' said anchor post having a transverse aperture, an upper tubular post telescoped over the upper end of said anchor post and having a second transverse aperture aligned with the iirst mentioned aperture, a locking bolt passing through said apertures securing said anchor post and said upper post together, Yand an axially extending notch in the end of said upper poststraddling said locking proection thereby preventing rotation of said upper post with respect to said vane structure.

2. A supporting post comprising a tubular anchor post having upper and lower ends, the lower end being terminated substantially in a plane which intersects the anchor post axis at an acute angle thereby providing upper and lower end portions, the lower end portion having a radially inwardly projecting deilector, said deector having an outer surface extending both axially and circumferentially with respect to said post, said deiiector rnergin(y along a spirally curved surface into the periphery of said anchor post which displaces soil radially outwardly when said post is rotated in a given direction, an auger on the lower endoi said anchor post, and a stabilizing vane structure telescoped over said anchor post comprising a bearingsleeve having at least one axially ext-ending vane, said vane having an axially extending locking projection.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said Vane structure comprises an elongated tubular sleeve having upper and lower ends, each ot said vanes being triangular in shape and secured along one edge to said elongated sleeve between the upper and lower ends, a second edge on each vane projecting radially outwardly at right angles from the upper end edge oi said elongated sleeve, one of said venes being longer than the othersand projecting upwardly beyond the upper end edge of said elongated sleeve to provide said locking projection.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 7,775 Freeman July 3, 1877 206,078 Bowes July 16, 1878 598,063 Oliver Jan. 25, 1898 1,857,585 Brooks May 10, 1932 2,084,239 Bradford June l5, 1937 2,234,907 Williams Mar. 11, 1941 2,653,688 Y Gordon Sept. 29, 1953 2,666,623 Johnson Jan. 19, 1954 

